ICER draft: Some Vertex CF drug prices should be halved

The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review said the prices of two of three cystic fibrosis drugs from Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTX) would need to be discounted by about half for the drugs to be cost-effective. The comments came in a draft evidence report published late Thursday.

While ICER found that Symdeko tezacaftor/ivacaftor, Orkambi ivacaftor/lumacaftor and Kalydeco ivacaftor plus best supportive care substantially improved patient health outcomes, with quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gains ranging from 4.89 to 6.0, the institute concluded that the high cost of the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) therapies exceeded cost-effectiveness thresholds...